Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

We love to start our year with a nod to our favorite Goodreads group - ATY! This year, we are kicking it off with a setting prompt, so be on the lookout for books set in places starting with an A, T, or Y!

This setting can easily be fiction or nonfiction. If you'd like to Keep It Simple, you can go broad with continent names like Africa, America, or Asia. You could also count articles like "A" and "The" (like "The Shire"). If you want more of a challenge, trying finding a setting that incorporates all three letters.

Here's some suggestions of fictional locations that would work:

Avalon/Tintagel
Atlantis
Asgard
Alagaesia (Eragon)
Annexia (Naked Lunch)
Amity Island (Jaws)
Arrakis (Dune)
Ankh-Morpork (Discworld)
Arkham, Massachusetts (H.P. Lovecraft)
Avonlea (from Anne of Green Gables)
Themyscira (Wonder Woman's home island)
Treasure Island
Tsalal (used by Edgar Allen Poe and Jules Verne)
Yew (from an L Frank Baum story)"

ATY Listopia: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

What are you reading for this prompt? Do you have any recommendations for others?

I’m going with Argentina and have 2 classics (both are also debut novels) I’m interested in - The Tunnel by Ernesto Sabato and Betrayed by Rita Hayworth by Manuel Puig. I have 7 other options that I found on a Book Riot list.

Pam wrote: "I’m going with Argentina and have 2 classics (both are also debut novels) I’m interested in - The Tunnel by Ernesto Sabato and Betrayed by Rita Hayworth by Manuel Puig. I have 7 other options that ..."

Argentina is a great one! I just finished reading Elena Knows, which is by an Argentinian author and set in Buenos Aires. I highly recommend it!

I jotted down Fault Lines when this prompt made it in, it's set in Tokyo. It's pretty far down the Listopia now but I think it was near the top at first and it sounded good to me.

I will likely end up checking my TBR and the books that were bumped from this year's challenge though and try to use one of those, rather than add something new for this one.

I loved the books I read by these authors this year:
The Gods of Tango by Carolina de Robertis - Argentina
Three Daughters of Eve by Elif Shafak - Turkey
The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak -Turkey
The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak - Turkey

Other possibilities:
The Devil That Danced on the Water: A Daughter's Quest by Aminatta Forna. She also wrote Ancestor Stones and The Memory of love. - Africa
The Pearl That Broke Its Shell by Nadia Hashimi - Afghanistan
A House in the Sky by Amanda Lindhout - Alberta, Africa
✔️Dinosaurs- Arizona

NancyJ, I read Middlesex a couple of years ago and I'd definitely say it's mostly set in the States... maybe 25% in Turkey. Would recommend fitting it in somewhere else though; it's a great book.

Hannah - Thank you for that recommendation! I added it for the prompt “character with a disability” since Parkinson’s is considered a disability.

Emily wrote: "NancyJ, I read Middlesex a couple of years ago and I'd definitely say it's mostly set in the States... maybe 25% in Turkey. Would recommend fitting it in somewhere else though; it's a great book."

Thanks Emily.

The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak is also on my list of possibilities.

I was born and grew up in Arkansas, and Malice in Maggody by Joan Hess, which is set in Arkansas, has been on my TBR for a long time. So, it's a possibility as well.

I’m thinking of the new Barbara Kingsolver for this one, Demon Copperhead, set in Appalachia.

I’m using the YA The Smell of Other People's Houses which is set in Alaska though it also works for 52’s unusual title.

I'll pair this prompt with the Australian literary awards rejected prompt.

The Dry - Australia
Cloudstreet -Australia

Emily wrote: "NancyJ, I read Middlesex a couple of years ago and I'd definitely say it's mostly set in the States... maybe 25% in Turkey. Would recommend fitting it in somewhere else though; it's a great book."

That way she gets two of the letters- Turkey and America.

Wondering if I can hit all 3-- there's lots of A continents and then the Y and T for country or state and then city. Any Y places in Texas, Tasmania, Tennessee, Tunisia, Trinidad or Tanzania that have books?

Pamela wrote: "Wondering if I can hit all 3-- there's lots of A continents and then the Y and T for country or state and then city. Any Y places in Texas, Tasmania, Tennessee, Tunisia, Trinidad or Tanzania that h..."

I was trying to find something that would work for all 3 as well. I have been looking at places that start with Y - Yakima, Yellowstone, Yosemite so far no luck. I thought maybe I could find someone staying at a hotel with a T name.

I have been using https://www.mappit.net/ to help with my search

I live in Texas so... Texas Troubles is my book.

Lizzy wrote: "I’m thinking of the new Barbara Kingsolver for this one, Demon Copperhead, set in Appalachia."

That one is probably going to be my pick as well. It looks like a great story~

Demon Copperhead also works for the Spice Girls prompt. The protagonist is a redhead so - Ginger Spice.

My book club is reading The Stationery Shop in the new year, which is set in Tehran. Love it when that works out so well!

Kim wrote: "My book club is reading The Stationery Shop in the new year, which is set in Tehran. Love it when that works out so well!"

Good book.

I am going with The Dry as well. (Australia)

I'm reading a couple of mystery series that are set in Alabama (Southern Sisters) and Arkansas (Claire Malloy) but want to do something different for the ATY. So, at the moment I'm thinking of going with South Riding which I found on the list the other day. It's set in Yorkshire and sounded interesting.

D.L. wrote: "I am going with The Dry as well. (Australia)"


I loved this title.

I couldn't decide for this one, so I'm doing all three.

For A I've got Big Girl, Small Town by Michelle Gallen, set in the fantastically named Aghybogey. My A recommendation is any of Terry Pratchett's Discworld books that are set in Ankh-Morpork.

T is Twisted Twenty-Six by Janet Evanovich - the majority of this series is set in Trenton, New Jersey, they're light and fun and I'd recommend them all.

Lastly, for Y I've got Big Sky by Kate Atkinson, which is set in a Yorkshire seaside village, and I'd recommend Kelley Armstrong's Rockton series, starting with City of the Lost, which is set in Yukon.

I'd like to recommend Araluen as a location, it's the primary location characters are in in the Ranger's Apprentice book series by John Flanagan.

Book one is The Ruins of Gorlan

Marie wrote: "Lastly, for Y I've got Big Sky by Kate Atkinson, which is set in a Yorkshire seaside village, and I'd recommend Kelley Armstrong's Rockton series, starting with City of the Lost, which is set in Yukon...."

I've been having such a blank on place names, why on earth didn't Yorkshire pop into my head?! If I don't get to The Book Eaters this year, I'll make it my first read of 2023 (I don't read in order but I do like to start with prompt #1).

Ellie wrote: "I've been having such a blank on place names, why on earth didn't Yorkshire pop into my head?! If I don't get to The Book Eaters this year, I'll make it my first read of 2023 (I don't read in order but I do like to start with prompt #1)."

I have the benefit of being from Yorkshire, so it was the first place that popped into my head :)

I'll be using one of the following:
Apartment 16
Everything Love Is (Toulouse)
American Mother: The True Story of a Troubled Family, Motherhood, and the Cyanide Murders That Shook the World (Auburn, Washington state)

I have a few classics I'd like to read in 2023, and these meet the criteria:

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (partially takes place at Thornfield Hall)
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

Holly wrote: "I have a few classics I'd like to read in 2023, and these meet the criteria:

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (partially takes place at Thornfield Hall)
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson"

I am reading Jane Eyre for a second time right now, and I never thought of using it for this prompt. What a great idea!

Pamela wrote: "Wondering if I can hit all 3-- there's lots of A continents and then the Y and T for country or state and then city. Any Y places in Texas, Tasmania, Tennessee, Tunisia, Trinidad or Tanzania that h..."


I don’t know if they have Y towns, but I would like to read

Trinidad and Tobago
A House for Mr Biswas
The Bread the Devil Knead

Tasmania - I liked both of these, especially Rain Heron
The Rain Heron
Into That Forest

Tanzania
The Ardent Swarm

Recommending two books set in Australia that I read this year:

* Bob by Wendy Mass
* Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay

And two I haven’t read in years (also Australia):

* Hills End by Ivan Southall
* Playing Beatie Bow by Ruth Park

I recommend:
Alaska - Two Old Women: An Alaskan Legend of Betrayal, Courage and Survival - Velma Wallis
Arizona - These Is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901 - Nancy E. Turner
Texas - Broken - Jenny Lawson
Australia - The Botanist's Daughter - Kayte Nunn
Austria - The Third Man - Graham Greene

I read this book and it's an exciting thriller, but I think it is very scary and brutal.
Tennessee - Stillhouse Lake - Rachel Caine

I hope to read one of these:
Edit: I read this: Austria - Crossed Skis by Carol Carnac
Tennessee - The Orphan Mother- Robert Hicks (I've had this book on my challenges for probably 5 years. Will I read it in 2023?)
Australia - Devotion - Hannah Kent
Tehran - The Stationery Shop - Marjan Kamali
Trinidad and Tobago - - A House for Mr Biswas - V.S. Naipaul

Heather L wrote: "Recommending two books set in Australia that I read this year:

* Bob by Wendy Mass
* Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay

And two ..."

I also second Bob, it's a very nice story! <3

My possibilities would be:
If I don't finish it this year, The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes.
The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge
The Switch by Beth O'Leary
Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
Looking for Alaska by John Green
Dune by Frank Herbert

My potential reads from my TBR & Past Reads. Sorry for such a long list, I try to compile all my options since I am very much a mood reader and cannot plan ahead.

A very helpful link: https://www.goodreads.com/places

1Q84 - Asia & Tokyo, Japan
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World - Turkey
1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows: A Memoir - Asia
After Dark - Asia & Tokyo, Japan
All Our Wrong Todays - Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Almanac of the Dead - Tucson, Arizona
American Gods - Tennessee
An American Marriage - Atlanta, Georgia
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Texas
The Association of Small Bombs - Asia
The Atlas of Reds and Blues - Atlanta, Georgia
The Bean Trees - Tucson, Arizona
The Beekeeper of Aleppo - Aleppo, Syria, Asia & Turkey
Before the Coffee Gets Cold - Asia & Tokyo
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk - Texas
The Bitterwine Oath - Texas
A Black and Endless Sky - Albuquerque, New Mexico
The Blind Assassin - Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West - Texas
Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood - Africa
Boy's Life - Alabama
Burn Down the Ground: A Memoir - Texas
Cat's Eye - Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Cherry Beach - Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Chivalry is Undead - Texas
Circe - Aeaea & Ancient Greece
Cloud Cuckoo Land - Turkey
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage - Asia & Tokyo, Japan
Commonwealth - Arlington, Virginia
A Cosmology of Monsters - Texas
Crave - Alaska
Crazy Rich Asians - Asia
Crying in H Mart - Asia
Dance Dance Dance - Asia & Tokyo, Japan
Dancing with Death: The True Story of a Glamorous Showgirl, her Wealthy Husband, and a Horrifying Murder - Arizona
A Death in the Family - Tennessee
The Death of Vivek Oji - Africa
Demon Copperhead - Appalachia
The Dinner - Amsterdam, Netherlands
Dirt Creek - Australia
The Dirty Parts of the Bible - Texas
A Dowry of Blood - Asia & Austria
Dust Devils - Africa
Educated - Arizona
El Paso Under Attack
Elektra - Troy (present day Turkey
Evidence of Life -T exas Hill Country, Texas
The Far Field - Asia
Fault Lines - Asia & Tokyo, Japan
Fight Night - Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Florence Adler Swims Forever - Atlantic City, New Jersey
The Forest of Stolen Girls - Asia
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe - Alabama
The Ghost Bride - Asia
The Ghosts of Thorwald Place - Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Ginny Gall - Tennessee
Girl in Ice - Arctic Circle
The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II - Tennessee
Goddess of Filth - Texas
Golden Child - Trinidad
Gone with the Wind - Atlanta, Georgia
Grave Secret - Texas
Grave Sight - Arkansas
Grave Surprise - Tennessee
The Heart of the Matter - Africa
Her Name Is Knight - Africa
Homegoing - Africa
How Beautiful We Were - Africa
The Hunting Wives - Texas
The Husbands - Texas
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Arkansas
I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive - Texas
In The Shadow of The Apennines -
Abruzzo, Italy & Apennine Mountains
In the Valley of the Sun - Texas
The Inheritance Games - Texas
Invisible Man - Alabama
The Ivory Key - Ashoka
The Last Thing He Told Me - Austin, Texas
The Leavers - Asia
Leaving Atlanta - Atlanta, Georgia
Legend of a Suicide - Alaska
The Lioness - Africa & Tanzania
Living Dead in Dallas - Texas
A Long Petal of the Sea - Atlantic Ocean
The Lost Time Accidents - Austria
Love on the Brain - Texas
Man Tiger - Asia
The Many Daughters of Afong Moy - Asia
Mary: An Awakening of Terror - Arizona
The Memory Police - Asia
Memphis - Tennessee
Middlesex - Asia & Turkey
More Than You'll Ever Know - Texas
The Mountains Sing - Asia
Moxie - Texas
My First Thirty Years - Abilene, Texas
My Summer Darlings - Texas
My Sweet Girl - Asia
Night of the Mannequins - Texas
The Night She Went Missing - Texas
Nightwood - Austria
Nine Perfect Strangers - Australia
Norwegian Wood - Asia & Tokyo, Japan
Nothing to See Here - Tenessee
Olympus, Texas - Texas
On a Night of a Thousand Stars - Argentina
One for the Money - Trenton, New Jersey
Out - Asia & Tokyo, Japan
Out of Africa - Africa
The Outsiders - Tulsa, Oklahoma
The Passage - Telluride, Colorado
Perfect Little World - Tennessee
The Power - Africa, Asia & Tucson, Arizona
The Queen of the Cicadas - Texas
Red Island House - Africa
Remember Me Gone - Tumble Tree, Texas
Revelator - Tennessee
Rules for Being Dead - Texas
Sankofa - Africa
The Seaplane on Final Approach - Alaska
Self-Portrait with Ghost: Short Stories - Argentina & Asia
Sex and the River Styx - Africa, Asia & Tibet
The Sheltering Sky - Africa & Algeria
The Silence of the Girls - Troy (present day Turkey)
The Silence of the Lambs - Tennessee
Silver Sparrow - Atlanta, Georgia
The Song of Achilles - Troy (present day Turkey)
The Stranger - Africa & Algeria
Station Eleven - Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Summer Sons - Tennessee
The Survivors - Tasmania, Australia
A Tale for the Time Being - Asia & Tokyo, Japan
Tampa - Tampa, Florida
Tender is the Flesh - Argentina
Things Fall Apart - Africa
Things We Lost in the Fire - Argentina
Three Junes - Athens, Georgia
To Kill a Mockingbird - Alabama
To The Bright Edge of the World - Alaska
A Town Like Alice - Asia & Australia
Trailing - Africa
Transcendent Kingdom - Alabama
The Trivia Night - Australia
Trust Me - Texas
Trust No One - Alabama
The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley - Alaska
Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche - Asia & Tokyo, Japan
The Unsinkable Greta James - Alaska
We Are All the Same in the Dark - Texas
We Love You, Charlie Freeman - Toneybee Institute
Whisper Island - Alaska
White Faced Lies - Asia
The Wife Upstairs - Alabama
A Wild Sheep Chase - Asia
You Can Never Tell - Texas
The Younger Wife - Australia

I'm probably doing Salmon Fishing in the Yemen for this one.

I've narrowed it down to two options:

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry - Alice Island
Black Sun - Tova

I will probably read one of these:

The Strays - Australia
The Janissary Tree - Turkey
Night Shift - Texas

I will likely read A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute, which takes place after World War II in Australia. It has been on my TBR for a long time.

I have four others set in Australia on my TBR: Homecoming by Kate Morton (due to be published); The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan; The Place on Dalhousie by Melina Marchetta; Seven Little Australians by Ethel Sybil Turner. I have not finished going through my TBR spreadsheet yet.

Irene wrote: "My potential reads from my TBR & Past Reads. Sorry for such a long list, I try to compile all my options since I am very much a mood reader and cannot plan ahead.

A very helpful link: https://www...."

@Irene - thank you for the helpful link: https://www.goodreads.com/places

But I found that it only went to 100 pages (somewhere in the Ms) —any idea how to get to the other half of the alphabet of settings? I couldn't even figure out how you got to that link to begin with since I can't find a direct link to it in the navigation links I tried.

ARGENTINA
The Adventures of China Iron by Argentinian author Gabriela Cabezón Cámara is an exuberant queer retelling of the 1872 epic poem about gaucho Martín Fierro starring his young wife China Iron who runs away across the pampas with redheaded Scottish Liz on a series of adventures. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ here is my review

AUSTRALIA
You Need to Know is a domestic noir by Australian author Nicola Moriarty which will draw you in to the family’s lives and secrets. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ here is my review

These 4 books are on my tbr and in transition from my library, so I will assign one of them to this task :)

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Tread of Angels
A Month in the Country
The World We Make

Irene wrote: "My potential reads from my TBR & Past Reads. Sorry for such a long list, I try to compile all my options since I am very much a mood reader and cannot plan ahead.

A very helpful link: https://www...."

wow you are awesome girl!!!

I wanted to read The Suspect: An Olympic Bombing, the FBI, the Media, and Richard Jewell, the Man Caught in the Middle set in Atlanta, GA, but my library doesn't have it. :/

I recently read When She Woke which mostly takes place in Texas, and the rest takes place in America.

I might read Quakertown which takes place in Texas, too. Or Arcadia Falls. They've been on my TBR for a long time.

I will be listening to the audiobook of Demon Copperhead. I wondered if it would count if I said it is set in Appalachia, but that is exactly what GR lists for it.

I'm thinking

The Dry by Jane Harper, Fault Lines by Emily Itami, Elektra by Jennifer Saint, The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, or The Little Teashop in Tokyo by Julie Caplan.

Books I've read and recommend that fit this prompt:

A Thousand Splendid Suns
by Khaled Hosseini

The Kite Runner
by Khaled Hosseini

The Great Alone
by Kristin Hannah

Where'd You Go, Bernadette
by Maria Semple

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
by Fannie Flagg

Apples Never Fall
by Liane Moriarty

The Glass Castle
by Jeannette Walls

The Last Anniversary
by Liane Moriarty

To Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee

Educated
by Tara Westover

Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir
by Jenny Lawson

Man's Search for Meaning
by Viktor E. Frankl

Gods in Alabama
by Joshilyn Jackson

The Wife Upstairs
by Rachel Hawkins

Middlesex
by Jeffrey Eugenides

One for the Money
by Janet Evanovich

Nine Perfect Strangers
by Liane Moriarty

I'm planning on reading in order so this will be my first prompt. I've decided on The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry set on Alice Island.

2 more sleeps! LOL
I cannot wait to get started!

Robin P wrote: "I will be listening to the audiobook of Demon Copperhead. I wondered if it would count if I said it is set in Appalachia, but that is exactly what GR lists for it."

That's how I'm using it, Robin.